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Salvador Perez had a blunt response to Royals manager after benching
by Rex Villas
Salvador Perez made his thoughts very clear about Kansas City Royals manager Matt Quatraro’s reasoning for giving the veteran catcher a day off on Saturday.
Perez was not in the Royals’ lineup for Saturday’s game against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium in New York, N.Y., with Quatraro acknowledging the backstop’s struggles.
“Just looking at the way things have gone, he’s played in every game. Day game after night game, Carter was going to catch today, and Salvy’s been struggling a little bit. Just try to give him a little mental breather,” Quatraro said, via Anne Rogers of MLB.com.
Instead, the Royals gave Carter Jensen the start at catcher.
Several hours later, Perez shared a post on X, addressing Quatraro’s claim.
“I don’t need a mental breather,” the nine-time All-Star Perez wrote.
Quatraro’s decision came after Perez’s batting line dropped to .160/.210/.307 following a 0-for-4 performance with two strikeouts in Friday’s 4-2 loss to the Yankees in the series opener.
Perez clearly doesn’t like getting benched, but it could be for the better, given how bad he’s been hitting so far in the 2026 MLB season.
If anything, he has a .161 BABIP, suggesting better days ahead for the former World Series champion.
But after Jensen went 2-for-3 with a home run on Saturday, albeit in a 13-4 loss to New York, it will be interesting to see if Perez continues to be benched in favor of Jensen, at least for the series finale on Sunday.
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